As independent artists, we all have questioned ourselves on how to develop our reputation and engage into a popular art world. To start off, artistic exposure is very important and the internet is a great tool for emerging artists to expose their work. It offers the visual art market for growth and recognition with current and new audiences. Building a relationship with your collectors and fans is important because it will engage them to participate and share your work. “Another key development is that the Internet and the social media sites have increasing become the primary or even the sole source of information for individuals and business alike” (Harold Schroeder).

Despite artist strong focus on their work, the maintenance of social pages can also be challenging, especially when your fan base isn’t large. It has also been argued that the greatest participation in the social networks comes from word of mouth of popular artists recognized offline. But how do we get discovered and climb up the chain of popularity?

First, you must do your best work! During your journey, you will experience some failures. One must remember that failures are natural steps in helping you to move forward and get better. Afterwards, start sharing your work with others and get noticed! Our society spend an obscene amount of time online and the exposure of you work will create an interaction between users and will make it much easier for people to share your work.

“Don’t worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you’ll have to ram them down people’s throats” – Howard Aiken

When you invite people into your world, it will open the doors for a new fan base and new ideas that every artist can benefit from. Speaking from personal experience,   I started out like most artist, by social media, uploading my paintings online through my Facebook page, Instagram, blog and online marketing. I finally discovered Showyourarts, which is tailored only for artists. To my surprise, friends, fans and strangers started asking me about my work and requested some paintings. I soon realized the potential the online world has to offer. The internet is not only a place to expose your art; it can be an incubator of ideas helping you develop new works.   Branching out will definitely benefit you and any person that likes your art.

Artists go through up and downs, especially when it comes to exposing art online. We search for that confidence that will boost our motivation. If one is not feeling inspired, there is one book that is definitely inspiring and recommended to all artists called “Steal like an Artist” by Austin Kleon, a New York best seller! 😉

Reference:

Harold Schroeder, issues Ivey business journal, march/April 2013 Technology/ social Media and The Organization www.iveybusinessjournal.com/puplucation/the-art-of -business-through-social-media

Image link: http://austinkleon.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/3d-Steal-Like-an-Artist-NYT.jpg
website ref: Austin Kleon